Early Career

Mark Boyle first hit the headlines following his run to the final of the 2006 IBSF Grand Prix where he was eventually defeated by young Welshman Michael White. He was to move onto the main tour during 2006/7 for the first time but was to endure a disappointing first season there, winning just one match.

2008/9

Going into the final event of the season it was young countryman Anthony McGill who led the Scottish national rankings and looked to be in pole position to earn the Scottish nomination for 2009/10. Dramatically however he lost out 6-5 to Ross Vallance in the semi-finals of the Scottish Amateur National Championship and suddenly the opportunity fell to Boyle who if he could win the tournament, would take his place instead.

Having defeated Kevin Dooley 6-2 in the other semi-final, he could have been forgiven for cracking under the pressure but as he raced to a 7-0 victory against Vallance in the final, he ensured that he would draw level with McGill in the rankings and so would earn a return to the main tour due to the “last best result” rule in operation at the time.

2009/10

Mark’s return to the professional circuit proved to be a disappointment as he won just one match during the first three ranking event tournaments of the season. Following this there were rumours that Mark had chosen to resign his professional membership and they looked to be accurate as Mark did not participate in January’s Welsh Open tournament.

Mark did however take part in both the China Open and the World Championship qualifiers, winning a match in the latter against Northern Ireland’s Patrick Wallace before going down 10-8 to Jimmy White. Had Mark not damaged his tip at 7-7 during this match then he might have caused a major upset but it was not to be and his relegation from the tour was confirmed.